Chapter 21- The Yule
Ball
The plans were all in place. James and his parents, Emilia and Thomas Potter, would meet Lily and her parents, Charisse and Hayden, over Christmas vacation. Lily and James were very nervous about the whole affair, and the air was contagious. Everyone was a bit nervous about the ball; there were only three days left! Lily was a bit apprehensive…would James remember their three month anniversary? She had really no serious doubts that he would remember, he always did, but Lily couldn’t help worrying. Lily was in her dorm, thinking. She was all prepared for their anniversary, she had been deciding what his present should be for a month, but she was very happy with her choice. She smiled as she took the book out of her bag. At first glance, it was an ordinary journal, but Lily Evans had used her excellent talent for charms on it. So now, whenever James wrote anything, her thoughts would automatically reply to him. It would be a wonderful companion for him when they were separated, and Lily desperately hoped he would like it. It had taken her forever to charm it properly.
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Two blondes burst into the door, running furiously. “We have to get ready, Lily!! Today’s the ball!”
Lily smiled at the energetic twosome, and asked Emia, “What color robes are you wearing again?”
Emia sighed, “Lavender, Lil, and how many times do I have to tell you?” Emia then turned to the mirror, doing model poses with her hair in different positions.
“Down or up?” she asked her best friends.
“Well,” Avia began, “it’ll look best down, curled probably, assuming there isn’t a neckline you want to show off.”
“Not really, the robes I got have a v-neck,” Emia replied.
“Perfect,” said Lily.
Just then, another person burst in the door. “Doesn’t anyone KNOCK today?” Lily thought grumpily.
It was James.
“Oh, uh, hi, James…” Lily said nervously. His present was still in plain sight on her bed!
“Lily dear, what’s wrong?” he said with a sly grin, wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Nothing, dear,” she lied, “but you’re not supposed to see us getting ready. It takes away from the mystery,”
“Mystery of what?!” James asked, totally confused.
“What we’ll look like when it’s done,” Lily answered. “So go on, get out of here,” she said, shooing her boyfriend out of the room.
James was outside the door when he turned back around. “Princess?”
“What?” Lily said, opening the door again.
“Happy anniversary,” he whispered, taking her hand and giving it a light kiss.
Lily blushed furiously, and returned the “Happy anniversary.”
“I’ll give you your present along with your Christmas one tonight, okay?” James asked.
Lily nodded and said she would do the same, and with that, James was gone. Lily was ecstatic, he remembered their anniversary!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Several hours later, all the girls were done dressing for the Yule Ball. Only the finishing touches were left, and Lily put on the locket that her father had given her (she had taken it off for her shower), and had Avia curl her hair. Emia was completely ready, and she looked positively gorgeous. Lily had already talked to some handsome boys in their year, Ethan Anderson of Hufflepuff and Nathan Turner of Ravenclaw about Emia. She told them to hang on her and such, and invite their friends to do the same. She wanted Emia to be the belle of the ball tonight, because it was time for Sirius to realize what he’s missing.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“What’s taking them so long?” asked James grumpily. He had to wait for all three of the girls, because Emia would be with Lily most of the ball, and because Avia’s date was in Ravenclaw anyway.
Sirius had already left to find his date, Candy or Bunny or whatever her stupid name was. Sirius didn’t even know what her name was, so James sure didn’t care either.
James had been ready for the ball for almost an hour, and was waiting in the common room for the girls. He was extremely bored.
Soon there was a swish of red hair on the staircase. He looked quickly over to the stairs that led to the girls dorms, and there was Lily, Emia and Avia. James could not even see the twins; he could simply not take his attention away from Lily. She was radiant in her white dress robes. It was cut so it bared her shoulders, but in a classy way. There was intricate beading all down the front, in shiny iridescent beads. The beading was done in patterns of flowers and leaves, perfect for Lily. It offset her hair so well, and she looked simply magnificent.
Once James managed to take his eyes off of Lily, he noticed the twins. Emia and Avia looked amazing as well, especially Emia, he noticed. Avia’s hair was up with a few select ringlets gracing her shoulders, and had a boat-neck cut for the neck of the gorgeous pale blue robes. Emia, however, had her hair down. It was curled and bounced as she moved, and she was wearing a beautiful lavender robe. It had a stunning v-neck, which seemed to float against Emia’s pale porcelain skin. Emia’s caramel eyes were bright and alive, and she just radiated an amazing good energy.
James finally realized he was staring, and stepped up to the girls. “You ladies look amazing,” he said with the utmost sincerity.
Lily blushed, as did the twins, and stepped up to James. “Happy anniversary,” she said, handing him his presents.
James gave her two small parcels as well.
“Open them now?” he asked.
Lily gave a nod, and began to unwrap the first parcel, which was wrapped in a gold wrapping paper. Lily gasped as she saw a jewelry box inside, and she gingerly opened it, afraid of what might be inside.
It was a silver locket, shaped like a lily. Lily turned it over in her hand, and on the back was inscribed:
James and Lily
From
Till the End of Time
Lily began to cry, and opened up the locket. Inside was a picture of Lily on the left, smiling and moving a bit in her picture, and James on the right, smirking then laughing. She slipped the pendant on, taking off her father’s gold locket. Lily moved on to the next parcel, which was wrapped in Christmas paper. Inside this was a gleaming silver music box, which had a picture of Lily and James laughing together with Sirius, Emia, Avia, Remus and Peter on the top, and played “The Knight Errant” when you opened it. Lily smiled at this thought through her tears, and reached over to wrap James in a hug.
“So you like them?” James nervously asked.
Lily nodded furiously, and told him *through her sobs* to open her presents.
James smiled, and started on the anniversary present. He opened it to find a journal. (B/A/N-Yes, the same journal I described earlier.)
“Uh, thanks, Lily…” he said, a bit disappointed. James was hoping she would put a bit more work into his present.
Lily laughed and asked Avia for a quill and ink. Avia fetched them for her, and Lily began to show James exactly what the journal did. She wrote-
My name is Lily Evans.
The journal wrote back-
Hello, Lily Evans, I am Lily too. How did
you come to have my name?
James laughed, and tried it himself.
I am James Potter.
The journal replied-
Hey, James, I know who you are…how’s life going
for you, dear?
James laughed at the journal’s response and looked up into Lily’s emerald eyes. “You can write in it whenever you feel lonely, or whenever we’re separated,” Lily continued. “It will automatically respond with what I would say,” she said. “Oh Lily,” he breathed, “I love it.” Lily’s eyes lit up, and she smiled. “Oh, go on, James, open your Christmas present.”
James unwrapped the green and red wrapped package, and inside was a framed picture of the couple. It was taken in Hogsmeade, when James had done something Lily had not approved of. She was scolding him furiously in the picture, and he was just smiling his charming smile. Soon enough, his picture self reached over to Lily’s picture self, and gave her a huge kiss, in the middle of her tirade, no less. James laughed, and said, “I remember that!” Lily laughed back, “Me too.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lily, James, Avia and her date, and Emia made their grand entrance to the Yule Ball about ten minutes later. Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at the beautiful girls. James and Lily looked absolutely radiant together, Avia and Mitchell looked quite cute, but Emia looked simply fantastic. Every male in the place (except James and Mitchell that is) turned to gawk at her. Sirius who was talking to Candy/ Bunny/ whatever turned to see Emia coming down the staircase, and dropped his glass of punch. It shattered on the floor, and got bright red punch all over Candy/ Bunny’s dress robes. She was not happy, slapped Sirius, and walked off. The whole scene was quite entertaining.
Professor Dumbledore stepped up to
the microphone where the band was setting up.
“Good evening, my students,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, “I give
you the sensational wizarding band, the Weasley Sisters, Molly and
Everyone clapped furiously as two attractive redheads stepped out in front of the band. They smiled at the crowd, and one said, “Good evening, Hogwarts! It’s wonderful to be here! My younger sister-in-law, Molly, and I have been traveling singers for quite awhile. We enjoy doing shows and such, and are very, very grateful to be here with you tonight. We’re going to begin our set with the hit ‘Love Like Magic’”.
James extended his hand to Lily, and asked, “May I have this dance, my dear?”
“Of course,” she said with a smile.
Avia was, of course, dancing with Mitchell.
Sirius was halfway across the dance floor to ask Emia when a Ravenclaw 6th year, Randy Hobson, got to her first.
“You look beautiful, Emia darling,” he started. “May I have this dance?”
“Of course, Randy,” she said, throwing an angry glance at Sirius.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The Weasley sisters finished their
tune, and looked up. It was about
Sirius walked up to Emia and said, “Emie, can we talk?”
“Oh, what about, Sirius? How you chose to go with Candy or Bunny or whatever the hell her name is over me?”
“Well, yes, that and something else.”
“What?”
“Can we go outside?”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“PLEASE?”
“Fine,” Emia grumbled, allowing him to lead her outside by the hand.
Now they were in the beautiful Hogwarts courtyard, sitting on a stone bench.
“Okay, Sirius, we’re outside, you can start your sob story anytime now.”
Emia knew she was being cruel, but he had hurt her badly by going with that Hufflepuff, and she wanted some revenge. She wanted him to have to BEG for her forgiveness.
“Emie…you know how much you mean to me,” he began, taking her hand into his own.
“Actually, no, I don’t, Sirius. You never told me.”
“Oh.”
“If you tell me now, maybe I will know how much I mean to you.”
“Right…well, I’ve liked you as a friend for the whole year, but in the past month, you’ve been the only…girl…that I can trust…with…stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“Well, I can tell you anything. Like you know how I told you about the time when I was little, and James and I were playing Auror and Death Eater, and James sprained his ankle-”
“- and you didn’t know how to do medical treatment!” she laughed. “So you told him to sit there and think happy thoughts while you ran off to get your mum!”
“And I couldn’t find her, so James was screaming at me at the top of my lungs, until I finally realized that some ice might help a bit!” he said, laughing hysterically.
“Yeah,” Emia said, laughing as well. She couldn’t help but notice that he hadn’t let go of her hand yet.
“Well, Emie, I…I…do trust you. I definitely like you as a friend-”
“-but as more than a friend?”
“I don’t know. I’ve always been able to talk to you, I think you’re hilarious, I think you’re beautiful…”
“but what? What’s the problem, Sirius?”
“I’m…afraid…of a real relationship. I always pretended not to be attracted to you, but that was impossible to ignore tonight.”
“Thank you…I think,” smiled Emia.
“So…”
“So…” countered Emia.
Sirius smiled, and brushed a curl away from her cheek.
“Look, Sirius, if you aren’t going to be official about any of this…then maybe we should just be friends. I can’t accept any less than a real relationship.”
Emia tugged her hand away from his and stood up. She was about to walk away, when she felt a hand clasp her wrist.
“Please…don’t go,” Sirius said, utter pain in his eyes.
“Well, Siri, you have to figure out what you want, because I’m afraid that it’s all or nothing with me,” Emia said. She was determined to get Sirius as a boyfriend, and opt for nothing less.
Sirius stood up from the stone bench so he was facing Emia. He did what he had been dying to do for ages, leaned in, and kissed Emia.
Emia was a bit surprised at this, but allowed him to press his lips against her own, returning the kiss as well. She melted into his embrace…it just felt so…right.
As their lips parted, Sirius’ eyes opened, and looked directly into Emia’s caramel ones.
“Wow,” he said.
“Uh-huh,” said Emia, also ineloquently.
“Emie…uh…will you…be my girlfriend?”
“Of course, Siri.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Later on that night, Lily and James smiled knowingly at each other as they saw Emia and Sirius enter the room on the other side, hand in hand. Emie and Siri had been gone over an hour, which could only mean one thing. The singers finished their tune, and the band struck up a slow almost mournful one. Molly came on the mike and said, “Well, Hogwarts, this has been an interesting night. This is our last song, and it’s not one of our creations. This is a muggle tune we heard that we simply adored. It’s called ‘Pretty Maids All in a Row’ by the Eagles.”
Sirius’ arm wrapped around Emia’s
waist, hugging her close to him as the tune began. Everyone wanted to dance for the last dance,
there was hardly any room on the dance floor. Molly and
“Hi there, how are ya?!
It’s been a long time,
Seems like we’ve come a long way…
And my, what we learn so slow…
And heroes, they come and they go.
And leave us behind,
As if we’re s’posed to know,
Why…
Oh tell me, why…
Why do we give up our hearts to the past?
Yeah…
And why must we grow up so fast?
And all you wishing well fools
With your fortunes,
Someone should send you a rose…
With love from a friend,
Nice to hear from you again…
And the storybook comes to close,
Gone are the ribbons and bows.
Things to remember,
Places to go,
Pretty maids all in a row…
All in a row…
All in a row…”
-The Eagles, ‘Pretty Maids All in a Row’
As the song finished, Emia and Sirius looked into each other’s eyes, and Emia got up on her tiptoes to kiss Sirius. He smiled down at her after the kiss, which practically the whole student body (yes, even Bunny/ Candy/ what’s her name) saw. Lily and James smiled furiously at the couple, as did Avia. Everyone started cheering.
“Okay Hogwarts,” said
Everyone cheered, then Dumbledore said, “Alright, students, it’s time for bed. Thank you for an amazing Yule Ball, and be ready to leave for your trains tomorrow, if you are going home. I don’t want any late-night parties (he caught James and Sirius’ eyes at that) and have a good night.”
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